Scottish Executive

Autism

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the announcement of funding for autism initiatives by the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care on 3 March 2004, it will consider funding an initiative to carry out research into diet and autism by Autism Unravelled, Action Against Autism, Food and Behaviour Research, academics from the universities of Oxford and Stirling and the Rowett Research Institute.

Mr Tom McCabe: The announced funding related to the implementation of the Public Health Institute of Scotland’s Autistic Spectrum Disorders Needs Assessment Report. The reference group has had no approach from the group of organisations considering research into diet and autism.

  The Medical Research Council welcomes high quality applications for support into any aspect of human health and these are judged in open competition.

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to offer urgent gastroenterological examination to children diagnosed with autism since 1990 and what treatments will be made available, given the identification, replication and ratification of a new, painful inflammatory bowel disease associated with autism.

Mr Tom McCabe: There are no steps currently being taken to offer urgent gastroenterological examination specifically to children diagnosed with autism since 1990. Any child presenting with symptoms of painful inflammatory bowel disease would be investigated urgently, and offered treatment as appropriate.

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, given the identification, replication and ratification of a new, painful inflammatory bowel disease associated with autism, how many autistic children have been (a) refused a colonoscopy and (b) offered laxatives as a treatment option for their bowel disease since 1990 at the (i) Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, (ii) Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow and (iii) Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital.

Mr Tom McCabe: This information is not held centrally.

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action will be taken to identify, and discipline, gastroenterologists who have refused to examine and treat appropriately autistic children who have presented with obvious distressful bowel conditions since 1998.

Mr Tom McCabe: All NHS employers have disciplinary and complaints systems in place in respect of their staff. The ability of NHS Scotland to recognise and manage poor professional performance is one of the key aspects in our drive to make the NHSS safer for patients. The Scottish Executive have recently embarked on a consultation Safer for Patients, Supportive for Professionals which sets out proposals on how a framework could be established and managed.

Broadcasting

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have into the BBC Charter Review; whether its evidence to the review will be published, and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Mr Frank McAveety: Although broadcasting is a reserved matter, the Scottish Executive has been invited by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to be a member of the internal UK Government officials group which will be considering the responses to the current consultation on the BBC Charter Review. The Scottish Executive will therefore not be responding formally to the consultation exercise.

Building Control

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in monitoring the implementation of the Building Standards (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2001 in relation to its sustainable development objectives.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Executive will monitor and review the effectiveness of the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 2001 within the time-scale set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment. To obtain a building warrant all new buildings must comply with the higher standards set out in the regulations.

Building Control

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in monitoring the implementation of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 in relation to its sustainable development objectives.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 will not come fully into force before spring 2005.

Conservation

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers (a) it, (b) Scottish Natural Heritage, (c) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and (d) Dumfries and Galloway Council have to intervene if monitoring shows that measures aimed at preserving populations of Coenonympha tullia (large heath butterfly), Metrioptera brachyptera (bog bush-cricket) and Enteucha acetosae (sorrel pygmy moth) at Aucheninnes Moss are falling.

Allan Wilson: The Executive is not aware of any powers relating to those species held by the bodies mentioned.

Conservation

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to assess and monitor the number of viable populations and sites of Coenonympha tullia (large heath butterfly), Metrioptera brachyptera (bog bush-cricket), Enteucha acetosae (sorrel pygmy moth), either as a specific project or as part of a wider programme of biological recording, and when this work will be completed.

Allan Wilson: This information is not held centrally.

Energy

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking in relation to Directive 2002/91/EC of the European Parliament and Council on energy conservation in buildings.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: We are part of the implementation group set up by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to identify the actions required to meet the requirements of the directive.

Environment

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that furnaces of the kind used by Blue Circle Cement at Dunbar are suitable for the safe incineration of tyres.

Allan Wilson: This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.

Environment

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it has for re-using tyres once the ban on the disposal of whole tyres in landfill sites takes effect on 16 July 2004.

Allan Wilson: The ban on operators of landfill sites accepting most whole used tyres took effect from 16 July 2003. It is for the producer of used tyres to find ways other than landfill to dispose of used tyres. Other ways can include re-use, material recovery to make new products, civil engineering uses, aggregate substitutes and use as a fuel.

  The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is due to publish later this year a report on tyres as one of its priority waste stream projects to inform the future management of industrial wastes. This project is considering a number of ways to reduce tyre waste and promote re-use and recycling, such as promoting improved tyre maintenance, re-treading and recycling for use as material in path construction, carpet underlay or surfacing for children’s play areas.

Fisheries

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are employed by (a) the Scottish fishing industry as fishermen, (b) the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency, (c) its Freshwater Fisheries and Aquaculture Division and (d) other public sector bodies involved in fisheries.

Allan Wilson: The number of persons employed in the Scottish sea fisheries catching sector during 2002 and persons employed in public sector bodies involved in fisheries during the financial year 2002-03 is shown in the following table.

  Employment in the Sea Fisheries Catching Sector and Public Sector Bodies Involved in Fisheries.

  

 Sector/Organisation
 Number of Persons Employed


 Scottish sea fisheries catching sector (2002)
 5,707


 Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (2002-03)
 271


 SEERAD Freshwater Fisheries and Aquaculture Division 
  (2002-03)
 25


 Other Public Sector Bodies 
  Involved in Fisheries 


 SEERAD Sea Fisheries Division (2002-03)
 31


 Fisheries Research Services (2002-03)
 332*



  Note: *staffing levels for Fisheries Research services are presented in this table on a full-time equivalent basis

  Fisheries Research Services (FRS) are shown as employing 332 full-time equivalent staff in the table. FRS undertake a considerable amount of work on the marine environment more generally; only a proportion of FRS personnel work in topic areas directly concerned with fisheries.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many accused persons released on bail have been charged with further offences in each year since 2000.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not available centrally.

Language Training

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has in place to encourage the teaching of Russian in schools and universities.

Mr Jim Wallace: Since 2001, the Scottish Executive has provided education authorities with £10.5 million to support modern languages learning and teaching and to take forward the recommendations of the ministerial action group on Languages’ report Citizens of a Multilingual World . One of these recommendations was that "At the national level, a variety of languages other than French alone, including heritage or community languages such as Scottish Gaelic and Urdu, should be taught as a first modern language". Local authorities are generally responsible for ensuring a diversified provision of first modern language within their area if not within each school.

  As autonomous bodies, higher education institutions rightly make their own decisions with regard to curriculum provisions within particular subject areas. Scottish ministers are prevented by legislation from directing funds towards particular courses or institutions as this is a matter for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

Local Government Finance

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review its local government funding allocations to Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles councils to ensure parity of resources.

Mr Andy Kerr: Local government grant methodology has been agreed with COSLA and local authorities following extensive and collective consultation over a number of years. It takes account of a wide range of factors influencing local authority spend to ensure a fair distribution of grant. For these islands authorities it also takes account of the additional costs of delivering services in the islands, giving the three wholly island councils significantly higher allocations per head of population than any of the mainland councils, through the distribution of the Special Islands Needs Allowance.

Meat Industry

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to concerns that have been expressed by butchers in respect of additional costs that they face as a result of the implementation of the Animal By-Products (Scotland) Regulations 2003.

Allan Wilson: The Executive has sought to minimise the impact of these new requirements wherever possible. My officials invited local authorities to adopt a proportionate response to enforcement when this legislation was introduced. Officials have also worked with various trade organisations, including the Butchers’ Federation to identify possible disposal options.

Meat Industry

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to concerns expressed by butchers in respect of sectors, for example the catering sector, that are not covered by the Animal By-Products (Scotland) Regulations 2003 and currently dispose of raw meat waste and bones by landfill.

Allan Wilson: The Executive recognises these concerns, however the EU Animal By-Products Regulation allows catering waste to go to landfill. Catering waste, most of which will have been cooked, presents a lower risk of disease transmission than raw waste.

Meat Industry

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to introduce regulations so that all sectors that currently dispose of raw meat waste and bones by landfill are covered by regulations similar to the Animal By-Products (Scotland) Regulations 2003.

Allan Wilson: The Executive has no plans to introduce further legislative measures on the disposal of raw meat waste and bones.

NHS Equipment

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Health Technology Assessment Advice 5, what steps will be taken to follow up the recommendation to establish a national working group to determine the specification for ultrasound equipment, to ensure fitness for the requirements of both first and second trimester scanning and to address the issues of safety, quality assurance, repair and maintenance of ultrasound equipment.

Malcolm Chisholm: The contents of the Health Technology Assessment Advice 5 report is currently being fully reviewed by the Scottish Executive taking into consideration the advice from the UK National Screening Committee.

National Care Standards

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken, and will put in place, to promote the National Care Standards.

Mr Tom McCabe: The National Care Standards were officially launched in November 2001 by the Health Minister. The event was held at Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh and attracted significant press and media attention. This was followed by the publication and wide distribution of the first 19 sets of standards in late 2001 and 2002. Two further sets of standards have been published in 2003 and 2004. All the standards are available on the Scottish Executive’s website at www.scotland.gov.uk.

  In September 2002 around 220,000 copies of a general information leaflet about the standards Using care services? was published. This leaflet along with posters was widely distributed to public places such as benefit offices, doctors’ surgeries, libraries and local authority social work departments; to service providers; to umbrella and professional organisations and to the Care Commission. We will be publishing an updated version of this leaflet during 2004.

  The Care Commission has a key role to play in raising awareness of the standards when it is carrying out regulation, inspection and complaints work. The Scottish Executive is working, and will continue to work closely with the Commission to develop ways of further promoting the standards.

National Care Standards

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of public awareness of the National Care Standards.

Mr Tom McCabe: The National Care Standards Committee, which develops and recommends draft standards to Scottish ministers, has recently asked the Scottish Executive to consider methods to assess public awareness of the National Care Standards. A report will be made to the Committee in due course.

National Care Standards

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money has been (a) allocated to and (b) spent on publicising the National Care Standards in (i) 2002-03 and (ii) 2003-04 to date.

Mr Tom McCabe: The table details the financial resources spent on publishing, distributing and publicising the National Care Standards.

  Expenditure On The National Care Standards

  

 Year
 Resources Spent


 2001-2002
 £153,590


 2002-2003
 £46,738


 2003-2004 (to date)
 £14,053



  There are also effective ways of publicising the standards which do not involve spending money. The Scottish Executive and ministers take every appropriate opportunity to raise awareness of the standards in correspondence, at meetings and other events. Likewise, the Care Commission has a key role to play in raising awareness of the standards when it is carrying out regulation, inspection and complaints work.

Residential Care

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the cost of installing sprinklers in care homes will be reflected in future care home charges or whether it will provide any financial assistance to care homes for their installation.

Mr Tom McCabe: There is no requirement for sprinklers to be installed in existing care homes. The Executive intends to introduce regulations requiring sprinklers to be installed in new residential care homes. Providers need to consider the cost of meeting all the relevant regulatory requirements when they are planning a new facility.

Road Accidents

Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children were injured or killed in accidents while cycling last year.

Nicol Stephen: Statistics relating to the numbers of child pedal cyclists who were killed or injured in road accidents in Scotland in 2003 which were recorded by the Police will be published in June.

  Figures for 1992 to 2002 appear on page 17 of Road Accidents Scotland 2002, published by the Scottish Executive in 2003, copies of which are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 30447).

Waste Management

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage local authorities to develop green solutions, such as composting, for the disposal of all animal waste and former foodstuffs.

Allan Wilson: The Executive has made £230 million of funding available through the Strategic Waste Fund to assist local authorities in implementing their area waste plan. In particular the fund is designed to help local authorities increase recycling rates and divert biodegradable municipal waste from landfill.